Jurassic Park’s John Hammond, Richard Attenborough, 90, Dies

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Best known to American audiences for the role of the park creator John Hammond in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, Richard Attenborough, 90, has died.
The Oscar-winning British film director died at lunchtime on Sunday, August 24, 2014. Richard Attenborough had been in a nursing home with his wife for a number of years, and in a wheelchair since falling down stairs six years ago.

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Lord Attenborough was one of Britain’s leading actors, before becoming a highly successful director.
Along with his naturalist brother David, Lord Attenborough was one of Britain’s best-known screen celebrities.
He was hailed for his 1947 chilling portrayal of teenage hoodlum and murderer Pinkie in Brighton Rock.
On stage he was a member of the original cast of Agatha Christie’s long-running whodunnit, The Mousetrap.
In the 1960s, he was part of a star-studded cast in the prisoner-of-war drama The Great Escape.
His greatest achievement as a director was the 1982 epic Gandhi, which collected eight Oscars.
Later in his acting life he starred in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park in 1993, as the park’s billionaire creator John Hammond. He reprised the role in 1997, in The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
Born in Cambridge in 1923, he started acting at the age of just 12, making his professional stage debut aged 18.
He was appointed a CBE in 1967 and knighted nine years later in 1976, before being made a life peer in 1993.
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Obituaries can be found here, here, and here.
Thanks to Jeff Meuse for bringing this passing to my attention.